


you can choose your legacy

by outruntheavalanche



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hazing, Minor Spoilers, Rookie Dress-Up, Rookie Initiation, Yuletide 2016, Yuletide Madness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-09 21:44:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8914009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outruntheavalanche/pseuds/outruntheavalanche
Summary: The Padres do something a little different for this year’s rookie dress-up day.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chiasmus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiasmus/gifts).



> Yuletide Madness thingamajig for [**chiasmus**](http://chiasmus.livejournal.com/) because I saw their Dear Author letter and couldn’t help myself.
> 
> [Peanut Johnson was the first female pitcher to play in the Negro Leagues.](http://deferer.org?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamie_Johnson)
> 
> Title from The House of Hades by Rick Riordan.

Even though she’s on the disabled list with what’s officially being listed as a sprained elbow—only Ginny, the coaches, and training staff know it’s actually a minor tear—she still goes with the team on their final roadtrip of the season. Final roadtrip of the season means rookie dress-up. Rookie dress-up means the veterans pick out embarrassing costumes for the rookies, usually sexy women’s Halloween shit, and then parade them downtown for the rest of the team’s amusement.

Ginny’s honestly kind of dreading it. She knows it’s a rite of passage, knows that every rookie has to go through it sooner or later. Ginny also knows she can’t say no and duck out of it. As much as she’s dreading having to put on a stupid costume, it’d be even worse for her to refuse.

When Ginny gets to the clubhouse, some of the rookies are already dressed up. Livan is clad in nothing but a bulky white cloth diaper, and he’s waving a plastic rattle after Omar. Torres is at his locker, squeezing into skin-tight, rhinestone-studded leather pants and trying—and failing—to zip them up. Next to him, Stultz is yanking a metallic silver bikini top down over his chest. Ginny’s fellow rookies seem fine with their costumes—maybe even _delighted_ and giddy—but Ginny would rather just take the loss. Go get ’em tomorrow.

So what if her teammates think she’s not a team player for refusing to dress up? So what if they lose respect for her? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.

Peach, tan, brown, and black skin all on display under the fluorescent lights, in various states of undress. Ginny fights the urge to hurl and comes to a stop in front of her own locker. A shiny black garment bag is hung up on a hook, and there’s a yellow sticky note on the front. Ginny tugs it off and, with a resigned sigh, begins to unzip the bag.

“Ah, ah. You’ve gotta read the note first.” Mike pops up beside her locker and crosses his arms over his chest. He looks entirely too smug and full of himself.

Ginny smoothes out the crumpled sticky note and looks down at it. **Decided to mix it up this yr. Enjoy! — ML.** Frowning, Ginny pulls the zipper down and lets the wrinkled garment bag drop to the floor.

“What is this?” she asks, pivoting immediately to face Mike. “I thought you guys weren’t gonna give me any special treatm—”

“It’s not special treatment, Baker,” Mike grouses, pushing away from Ginny’s locker. “Like I said. We decided to mix it up this year.”

Ginny looks back at the costume they—Mike?—picked out for her. She’d been expecting a skin-tight or revealing—or both—costume, like some of her rookie teammates were wearing, but what the veterans have picked out for _her_ … 

Ginny feels tears prick the corners of her eyes and she quickly blinks them back as she runs a hand over the jersey. The front bears the crest of the old **Indianapolis Clowns** Negro League team in old-fashioned lettering. And, when she turns it over, **JOHNSON** on the back. 

Peanut Johnson. Ginny gently brushes her fingers over the letters spelling out that last name and mouths it to herself. _Peanut Johnson. A trailblazer. A history-maker. Just like me._

She looks for Mike again and finds him, watching, a curious expression on his face. When he realizes she’s looking at him, he nods and lifts an eyebrow.

“Isn’t dress-up day about putting rookies in their place? Reminding them of who’s in charge?” Ginny asks, voice wavering. She slips the jersey off the hanger and pulls it on.

“I never saw it that way,” Mike says, rejoining her by her locker. He reaches up and brushes at her collar like a fussy parent. “I always thought it was more about brotherhood than anything else. About carrying on a tradition. And you are.”

Ginny knocks his hand away from her collar. “Thanks, Lawson.”

Mike grins at her. “Anytime, Baker.”

**Author's Note:**

> AHHH MORE NOTES. I kind of forgot about the actual locker set-up on the show, and the fact Ginny's got her own special part of the clubhouse. Oops! 
> 
> Also let's assume her teammates wouldn't care that she isn't dressed in a revealing costume. Not all dress-up costumes are revealing or sexy anyway (FWIW MLB wrote just negotiated a new CBA and banned the kind of hazing that involves women's costumes). Players will still be able to do rookie dress-up as long as the costumes aren't offensive or misogynist.


End file.
